Durbin: No Military Action Against Iran Without Congressional Approval

Press Release

United States Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today introduced legislation barring the President from taking any military action against Iran without express Congressional approval. Durbin first offered the resolution as an amendment to the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007 and when Republican senators objected, Durbin introduced it as a stand-alone bill.

"The Constitution makes clear in Article I, Section 8, that the power to declare war is vested in the American people through their elected representative in Congress; in the House and the Senate," Durbin said. "If the administration wishes to take any offensive action in Iran, they have to come to the Congress for the authority to do so. To do otherwise is not only reckless, but clearly unconstitutional."

Durbin said that he was troubled by statements from the President and Vice President suggesting that the U.S. is somehow preparing for offensive military action in Iran. Today, the Bush Administration announced the toughest set of sanctions against the Iranian regime since the 1970's.

Durbin's resolution, which consists of two sentences, simply states "The Senate hereby affirms Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States vests in Congress all power to declare war. Any offense to have military action taken by the United States against Iran must be explicitly approved by Congress before such action may be initiated."

This spring, Durbin joined Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR) in introducing legislation to strengthen sanctions against Iran until that country dismantles all nuclear enrichment and reprocessing programs. That bill, The Iran Counter-Proliferation Act of 2007, does the following:

* Tightens economic sanctions on Iran.

* Addresses Russia's role in exporting nuclear and military technology to Iran by prohibiting U.S. entry into a nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia until the President has verified that this cooperation has ceased.

* Encourages the peaceful development of nuclear power by authorizing $50 million in contributions to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to establish an international nuclear fuel bank that would be available to countries that are in full compliance with IAEA safeguards and do not operate uranium enrichment or spent-fuel reprocessing facilities.

* Reiterates the requirement to produce a National Intelligence Estimate on Iran mandated under last year's Defense Authorization bill.

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